ES2220840T3 - PACKAGING MACHINE. - Google Patents

Abstract

A machine for packaging groups (2) of articles on the respective sheets (4) of packaging material, the machine comprising at least one folding element (36) having at least one active part (40a) that is brought into place contact with a sheet (72; 73) of a sheet (4) of packaging material, said folding element (36) comprising an adjustment device (39; 76; 81; 84) to adjust the length of said active part ( 40a) at least in a first direction (D1) transverse to a second direction (D2) of movement of the folding element (36) and the groups (2) with each other, and said active part (40a) being extensible in said first direction (D1); and being characterized in that said active part (40a) comprises springs (44) which extend in the first direction (D1) and which are brought into contact with said sheet (72; 73) to fold the sheet (72; 73) .

Description

Packaging machine

The present invention relates to a machine of package.

More specifically, the present invention is refers to a machine for orderly packaging groups of household paper rolls, to which the following description is Simply refer by way of example.

Known machines for packaging groups of rolls of household paper normally comprise elements of folding located along the path of the folding groups sheets of a sheet of packaging material, and each of the which comprises an active part that is brought into contact with a corresponding sheet to fold it over the group. For get a sheet without wrinkles, the active part has to be led to make contact with the entire surface of the sheet that is being folded, but without interfering with the rest of the sheet packaging material The size of the sheets depends on the size of the group, which in turn depends on the size and number of each of Group items while packaging machines currently used have the disadvantage of being designed to package groups of constant size, so they are not very versatile

Document DE 1,912,445 U refers to a machine for packaging items in the corresponding sheets of packaging material The machine comprises a folding element that has an active part that is brought into contact with a sheet of packaging material sheet when the item is fed along a given path and in a direction of feed given. The active part of the folding element is defined by a fixed part that is part of the bottom plate of the folding tunnel and by a mobile part that is part of the upper plate of the folding tunnel. The top plate is mobile in a vertical direction for height adjustment of the folding tunnel of  According to the height of the item to be packaged.

GB 678.092 refers to a machine in accordance with the preamble of Claim 1 for package items in the respective sheets of material package. The machine comprises a folding element that has an active part that is brought into contact with a sheet of the sheet of packaging material and that is extensible in a Address given depending on item size.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a highly versatile packaging machine designed to package groups of items of various sizes.

In accordance with the present invention, it has been provided a machine to package groups of items in the respective sheets of packaging material as claim in claim 1.

A non-limiting embodiment of the present The invention will be described by way of example with reference to attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a side view, with parts in section and parts removed for reasons of clarity, of a machine for packaging groups of items according to the present invention;

Figure 2 shows a side view to scale enlarged, with parts removed for reasons of clarity, of a folding element of the machine of figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a side view to scale enlarged, with parts removed for reasons of clarity, of a first variant of the folding element of figure 2;

Figure 4 shows a side view to scale enlarged, with parts removed for reasons of clarity, of a second variant of the folding element of figure 2;

Figure 5 shows a side view to scale enlarged, with parts removed for clarity, from a third variant of the folding element of figure 2;

Figure 6 shows a side view to scale enlarged, with parts removed for reasons of clarity, of a second detail of the machine of figure 1;

Figures 7 to 11 show perspective views of various steps of packaging item groups in the machine of figure 1.

The number (1) in figure 1 indicates as a whole a machine for packaging groups (2) of rolls (3) of paper domestic in the corresponding sheets (4) of material package to form packages (5), one of which is shown in  Figure 11

With reference to figure 7, each group (2) it has substantially the shape of a parallelepiped of height H and with two main faces (6), two side faces (7), and two faces extreme (8). The faces (6) and (7) have wavy surfaces formed by the cylindrical surfaces of the adjacent rolls (3), while the extreme faces (8) have surfaces substantially flat.

In a variant not shown, group (2) comprises rolls (3) placed vertically as opposed to the horizontals, as indicated in figures 1, 7-11.

With reference to figure 1, the machine (1) it comprises a frame (9) that supports a conveyor (10) for transport groups (2) in a vertical direction (D1), and a conveyor (11) for transporting groups (2), partially packed in the respective sheets (4) of packaging material, in a horizontal direction (D2).

The conveyor (10) comprises a guide (12) that it is part of the frame (9); a car (13) that runs along the guide (12) in the vertical direction (D1); and a platform (14) which is part of the car (13) and to raise and feed a group (2) in the direction (D1) to the conveyor (11). The car (13) and the platform (14) are operated by a known actuator not shown.

The conveyor (11) comprises a tunnel (15) that extends in the direction (D2) and defines a path (P); and a chain conveyor (16) to feed the group (2) and the sheet (4) of packaging material along the tunnel (15) and the path (P). The tunnel (15) comprises a bottom wall (17) fixed to the frame (9), which extends in the direction (D2), and which defines a slide for the groups (2); and an upper wall (18) located on the wall (17), movable in the direction (D1), and connected to the frame (9) by an adjustment device (19) to adjust the distance (D) between the upper wall ( 18) and the bottom wall
(17).

The chain conveyor (16) is fixed on the frame (9) in a manner not shown, and comprises a chain (20) which in turn comprises an operating branch (21) on the wall (18) and parallel to the direction (D2), and pairs of partitions (22) defining a seat with such a size to accommodate a group (2) of items (3), and penetrating into the tunnel (15) by openings (not shown) formed in the wall
(18).

The machine (1) also comprises devices for folding (23), (24), (25), (26), (27) to fold the sheet (4) around the group (2) along the tunnel (15) and a device closing (28) to close around the group (1). Actually, the folding devices (23), (24), (25), (26), (27) and the closing device (28) are part of the tunnel (15).

The folding device (23) comprises two blades (29) and (30) parallel to and substantially therein lower wall plane (17); and two actuators (31) and (32) for move the blades (29) and (30) respectively between one position resting shown by the dashed line, and a position of work shown by the continuous line in figure 1.

The folding device (24) comprises a guide (33) that is part of the frame (9) and is parallel to the direction (D2); a carriage (34) that runs along the guide (33); a mechanism transmission (35) to drive the carriage (34) and two elements of folding (36), facing each other, of folding elements (36) specularly symmetrical fixed to the carriage (34).

With reference to figure 2, each element of folding (36) comprises two parallel bars (37a) and (37b); a screw clamp (38) to connect the bar (37a) to the carriage 3. 4; an adjusting device (39) to adjust the distance between the bars (37a) and (37b) in the direction (D1); and a part (40th) extensible in the direction (D1) and connected to the bars (37a) and (37b). The part (40a) is called active because it is the part of the folding element (36) that comes into direct contact with the sheet (4) of the packaging material during the operations of creased. The adjusting device (39) comprises two levers (41) connected together in an articulated way to form an X, and fixed at the ends to the bars (37a) and (37b) by means of pins (42) that fit the holes (43) formed along the bars (37a) and (37b).

The bars (37a) and (37b) have several holes contiguous (43) that selectively fit by means of pins (42) to modify the configuration of the two levers (41) and to adjust the distance between the bars (37a) and (37b) and the length of the active part (40a) in the direction (D1).

The active part (40a) comprises a series of parallel coil springs (44), side by side, each of which is fixed at the ends to the bars (37a) and (37b) and is wound in the same direction than the adjacent springs (44). The winding direction of the springs (44) is selected to take advantage of the thrust of the spring in the leaf (4) when the leaf (4) moves with respect to the part (40a), and more specifically, is selected to produce a Push up when the blade (4) moves with respect to the part (40a) in the direction (D2). The springs (44) are connected to the bars (37a) and (37b) at points aligned along two respective straight lines, or along two curved paths to form a divergent part
(40a).

With reference to figure 1, the device folded (25) is fixed with respect to the tunnel (15) and comprises two parallel folding elements (36), facing each other, fixed to the frame (9) by the fasteners (38).

With reference to figure 6, the folding device (26) comprises two folding elements (45), one in front of the other (in figure 6 only one of them is shown), each comprising a triangular screw (46 ) having a first end pivoting in the frame (9), in the bottom wall (17), around an axis (47) parallel to a direction (D3) perpendicular to the directions (D1) and (D2), and a second end that pivots on the upper wall (18), which has a pin (48) parallel to the axis (47) and that fits a groove (49) in the screw (46). When the upper wall (18) is lowered by adjusting the device (19) towards the lower wall (17) in the direction (D1) (position shown by the dashed line in Figure 6), the folding element (45) is oriented around the axis (47) so that the screw (46) has a part (46a) below the wall (18) and a part (46b) above the wall (18). That is, the adjustment of the upper wall (18) rotates the screw (46) around the axis (47) and adjusts the length of the screw (46). In other words, the screw (46) has an active part (46a) that varies along a variation in the position of the upper wall (18) and admits the entire length of the screw (46) when the wall (18) It is in the upper limit position. Regardless of the screw length adjustment (46), the rotation of the screw (46) around the shaft (47) adjusts the length of the active part (46a) in the direction
(D1).

The folding device (27) comprises two folding elements (50), opposite each other, symmetrical Specifically, of which only one is shown in Figure 6. Each folding element (50) comprises a screw (51) that forms part of the wall (17); an appendix (52) articulated to the screw (51)  around a pin (53) that is parallel to the axis (47), which forms part of the screw (50) and fits a groove (54) in the appendix (52); and an adjustment device (55) having a mechanism of screw-nut to adjust the orientation of the appendix (52) around the pin (53).

The wall (17) has an opening (56), through from which the closing device (28) is led to make contact with the sheet (4) of the packaging material, and in which Each screw (51) has a recess (57) that extends throughout the length of the opening (56) in the direction (D1). In others words, each screw (51) has the shape of an inverted U to save the opening (56). Incoming (57) is defined by a upper edge (58) and two lateral edges (59) and is partially occupied by the coil springs (60) fixed to the upper edge (58) of the screw (51) and rolled in the same direction to raise the sheet (4) of the packaging material when the group (2) it moves with respect to the screw (51).

In other words, the folding element (50) has an active part (50) defined by the screw (51), the appendix (52) and the springs (60) and whose length in the direction (D1) is adjusted by rotating the appendix (52) around the pin (53).

The device (28) comprises a guide (61) parallel to the direction (D1); a car (62) that travels to guide length (61); and an actuator (63). The car (62) has a wall (64) that makes contact with the wall (17) to close the opening (56), and a closing element (65) having a head of closure (66) and an actuator (67) to move the head (66) towards back and forth in the direction (D1). The wall (64) has a opening (68) for the passage of the closing head (66) and is smaller that the opening (56); and carriage movement (62) in the direction (D1) favors the positioning of the closing head (66) and the opening (68) in the best position to close the various types of groups (2).

In actual use, the machine (1) is prepared to pack groups (2) according to the size of the groups (2). That is, the height H of the group (2) determines the distance between the walls (17) and (18) and the length of the active parts (40a), (46a) and (50a) of the respective folding elements (36 ), (45) and (50), and the size of the group (2) parallel to the direction (D2) determines the positioning of the closing head (66) in the direction (D2) by means of the carriage
(62).

Once the machine (1) is ready to pack a given type of group (2), the cycle of packaging, and produces the elevation of a group (2) over the platform (14) in the direction (D1) to intercept a sheet (4) held in a horizontal position by known means (not shown) and take the sheet (4) to make contact with the wall (18) and between partitions (22). When the group (2) and the sheet (4) are raised, the blade (4) makes contact with the free axis of the blades (29) and (30) positioned as shown by the lines of strokes in figure 1, and is folded in a U shape around the group (2), as shown in figure 7, in which the sheet (4) of the packaging material, folded in a U-shape, has two sheets (69) and (70) that come down. With reference to figure 1, the blades (29) and (30) are then moved to the position closed (shown by the solid lines in figure 1) between the platform (14) and the group (2), to fold the sheets (69) and (70) on the lower main face (6) of the group (2) and form the tubular packing shown in figure 8. The tubular packing has two tubular parts (71) leaving from the end faces (8) opposite of the group (2). Each tubular part (71) has two sheets lateral (72) parallel to the direction (D1) and two sheets main (73) parallel to the direction (D2); and packing tubular as a whole has a part (74) defined by parts overlapping ends of the sheets (69) and (70).

Once the tubular packing has been formed, the folding device (24) moves the folding elements (36) to a working position to fold the side sheets (72) located upward in the direction of travel of group (2) (from left to right in figure 1). The chain conveyor (16) then feeds the group (2) in the direction (D2) to bring the side sheets (72) in direction descending to make contact with the folding elements (36) of the fixed folding device (25) and fold the side sheets (73) downward on the group (2) as shown in figure 9. When the group (2) and the corresponding sheet (4), partially folded around the group (2), they are fed towards go a little further, the lower main sheets (73) are folded in square form by the folding device (27), such as shown in figure 10. At a stop in operation of the conveyor (16) the closing head (66) is inserted into through the opening (68) to make contact with the part (74), it  heats to melt the sheet (4) of the packaging material at along the part (74) and is pushed against the group (2) which is deformed so that the closing head (66) penetrates into the tunnel (15) and deform the coil springs (60) that make contact with the closing head (66).

Once the closure is done, the head is removed closing (66) and group (2) is fed from right to left in the direction (D2) so that the folding device (27) fold the top main sheets (73) in a square shape to form the package (5) shown in figure 11.

With reference to the variant of Figure 3, the variant folding element (36) comprises two bars (75a) and (75b) between which the defined active part (40a) extends by the docks (44); and an adjustment device (76). Each bar (75a), (75b) differs from the bars (37a), (37b) by having a hole  (43) and a groove (77) instead of the holes (43). The adjustment device (76) comprises two levers (41), each of which pivots at one end of a pin (42) in the hole (43) and at the other end on a pin (78) that fits in the slot (77); and a screw-nut mechanism (79) located along the bar (75b) to determine the position of the pin (78) along the groove (77) and, consequently, the length of the active part (40a) in the direction (D1). The bar (75a) is connected to the carriage (34) by a screw clamp (38).

The previous variant of the folding element (36) it favors the precise adjustment, as well as faster, of the length of the part (40a) in the direction (D1) under the mechanism screw-nut (79).

With reference to the variant of Figure 4, the folding element (36) comprises three parallel bars (80a), (80b), (80c); an adjustment device (81) that cooperates with and for adjust the distance between the bars (80a), (80b), (80c); and two active parts (40a), each of them extends between two adjacent bars (80a), (80b), (80c).

The bar (80b) is located between the bars (80a) and (80c) and is fixed to the carriage (34) by the screw (38); each bar (80a), (80b), (80c) has a hole (43) and a slot (77); the adjusting device (81) comprises two levers (41) that pivot in the shape of an X between the bars (80a) and (80b), and two levers (41) that pivot in the form of X between the bars (80b) and (80c); each lever fits into a hole (43) and a slot (77) as seen and described in the variant of figure 3; and the adjustment device (81) comprises a screw-nut mechanism (82) located in the bar (80b) and to adjust the length of both active parts (40a) in the direction (D1).

The folding element (36) in the variant of the Figure 4 has the advantage of adjusting the length upwards and down to the same extent.

With reference to the variant of Figure 5, the folding element (36) comprises two bars (83a) and (83b), between which extends the active part (40a) defined by the springs (44); and an adjustment device (84) that also includes the bars (83a), (83b). The adjusting device (84) comprises a support (85), and two screw-nut mechanisms (86a), (86b), electrically operated, fixed to the support (85) and connected to the respective bars (83a), (83b) to adjust the length of the active part (40a).

The folding element (36) in the variant of the Figure 5 has the advantage of favoring remote adjustment precise of the length and position of the part (40a). The support (85) can be applied to the carriage (34) to form the folding device (24), and to the frame (9) to form the fixed folding device (25).

Claims (13)

1. A machine for packaging groups (2) of articles on the respective sheets (4) of packaging material, the machine comprising at least one folding element (36) having at least one active part (40a) which is brought to contacting a sheet (72; 73) of a sheet (4) of packaging material, said folding element (36) comprising an adjustment device (39; 76; 81; 84) to adjust the length of said part activates (40a) at least in a first direction (D1) transverse to a second direction (D2) of movement of the folding element (36) and the groups (2) with each other, and said active part (40a) being extensible in said first address (D1); and being characterized in that said active part (40a) comprises springs (44) which extend in the first direction (D1) and which are brought into contact with said sheet (72; 73) to fold the sheet (72; 73) . 2. A machine as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that said springs (44) are helical springs (44) arranged side by side and parallel to the first direction (D1). 3. A machine as claimed in Claim 2, characterized in that said springs (44) have the respective springs wound in the same direction. 4. A machine as claimed in one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said active part (40a) extends, in said first direction, between two rigid supports (37a, 37b; 75a, 75b; 80a, 80b; 80b , 80c; 83a, 83b). 5. A machine as claimed in Claim 4, characterized in that said adjusting device (39; 76; 81; 84) adjusts the relative position of said rigid supports (37a, 37b; 75a, 75b; 80a, 80b; 80b, 80c; 83a, 83b). A machine as claimed in Claim 5, characterized in that said adjustment device (39; 76; 81) keeps a rigid support fixed (37a; 75a; 80b). A machine as claimed in one of Claims 4 to 6, characterized in that said folding element (36) comprises three rigid supports (80a, 80b, 80c) and two adjacent active parts (40a). A machine as claimed in Claim 5, characterized in that said adjustment device (84) comprises two adjustment mechanisms (86a, 86b) connected respectively to two rigid supports (83a, 83b) to adjust the position of each rigid support (83a, 83b) independently of the other. 9. A machine as claimed in Claim 8, characterized in that said adjustment mechanisms (86a, 86b) operate by means of the respective remote control actuators. 10. A machine as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, characterized in that it comprises a carriage (34) that moves in said second direction (D2) and that carries two specularly symmetrical folding elements (36). A machine as claimed in one of Claims 1 to 10, characterized in that it comprises a frame (9) carrying two specularly symmetrical folding elements (36). 12. A machine as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a tunnel (15), along which a group (2) of articles and the corresponding sheet (4) of packaging material are fed along a path (P); the tunnel (15) comprising several of said folding elements (36) and varying in size according to the size of said group (2) in said first direction (D1). 13. A machine as claimed in Claim 12, characterized in that said tunnel (15) comprises a bottom wall (17); an upper wall (18); and an adjustment device (19) to adjust the distance (D) between the lower wall (17) and the upper wall (18).